This poor kid didn't have a clue what was going on before yesterday's match between Sunderland and Manchester City. One minute he was posing for photos in front of his City heroes, the next he was standing alone in front of a procession of Sunderland players. That's the danger of playing zonal instead of going [.
Team GB played Brazil's London 2012 mob in a pre-Olympic jolly at the Riverside last night,
winning 2-0 and putting on a dominant display of football though, sadly, the match was overshadowed
by a sickening injury to Neymar on the half-hour mark, when a horrific collision with Ryan Betrand
resulted in the Brazilian forward sustaining a rupturedbrokenshatteredsevered neck.
But we had to return today to comment (briefly) on the fact that John Terry was cleared of
racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in a no-blame verdict. NOT GUILTY, ho.
I'm not going to get too far into it, but let's just say the case bordered on the farcical
before and during the trial, and this is exactly what was expected.
It's almost not worth writing articles during the transfer window these days since you don't know
who to believe unless you actually talk to the players themselves. And even some of them don't have
clue what's going on. Looking over the headlines regarding Theo Walcott and his contract
negotiations with Arsenal you'll see there are about two dozen different scenarios offered by
various writers and newspapers.
Steve Bould seems to have whipped this Arsenal defense into shape. Introducing zonal marking and
taking away Stoke's greatest strength, its set pieces. They were so effective that they did not
concede a corner and the free kicks that Stoke took were dealt with decisively by Mertesacker and
Vermaelen.
Looking at a league table after one match is rather like looking at a chest of drawers where
only the knobs that help you open each drawer has delivered. Not much clue to what the overall
picture is going to be.
Hands up all those who breathed a huge sigh of relief at the end of the first 45 minutes of
yesterday's game? Moi. I say that because I think like most I didn't have a clue what to expect.
Usually, we get minor changes enabling us to have a pretty good idea of what to expect but with
last season's and this window's signings everything seems to be up in the air making it very
difficult to calculate what to expect.
Today we take the pitch against Cologne in our last pre season friendly. Arsene's pre season
routine has been upset by the tour of the Far East and the games played there excluded a number of
first teamers and most importantly our new signings were left at home to settle in to London life,
and find their way around London Colney.
Today we take the pitch against Cologne in our last pre season friendly. Arsene's pre season
routine has been upset by the tour of the Far East and the games played there excluded a number of
first teamers and most importantly our new signings were left at home to settle in to London life,
and find their way around London Colney.
With the start of the season quickly creeping up on the calendar and the transfer window being open
until the end of August, Arsenal, like most other Premier League teams, aren't sure who will be in
the line-up on opening day and who might not be with the club anymore.
One thing looks certain though, and that's that Gunners midfielders Tomas Rosicky and Jack
Wilshere won't be ready to play when the season kicks off.
Johnny Jensen scored? Â No, not the one-off on that sunny afternoon defeat to QPR, the one which
prompted the " I was there was Jensen scored"  t-shirts. No, I am talking about the one which led
to our signing Mr Jensen, that phenomenal shot which won Denmark Euro '92.
It was 20 years ago today (good opening line for a song!
Johnny Jensen scored? Â No, not the one-off on that sunny afternoon defeat to QPR, the one which
prompted the " I was there was Jensen scored"  t-shirts. No, I am talking about the one which led
to our signing Mr Jensen, that phenomenal shot which won Denmark Euro '92.
It was 20 years ago today (good opening line for a song!
My Overseas Roundup of the teams I follow is coming a bit late this year because I had to wait for
the Spanish promotion playoffs to finish today. Unfortunately its pretty much universally bad
news.
Blackburn Rovers - EPL - Finished 19th of 20. In the biggest failure of the year Blackburn
Rovers was relegated out of the EPL.
Morning all, last night I dreamed that Google launched a thing called Google Cake, where you
could download ready made sponge cakes but you had to do all the icing and filling and stuff
yourself. It got messy.
Anyway, plenty to be going on with this morning as the club yesterday confirmed that Pat Rice
would be leaving after 44 years.
I haven't the slightest clue what's going on here, but no one's complaining. The lasses in the
German shirts are singing the Dutch national anthem in a suspiciously bouncy van. Obviously this
has some link to these rivals in the same Euros group. Outside of that, its effectiveness is up for
debate.
Since tonight's game is a friendly, I don't know what kind of team the Portland Timbers will
field tonight, and I'm really not all that knowledgeable on either Valencia or La Liga I've decided
to just make an easy, bare bones match thread for those of you who want to follow the game from
home and talk about it in the usual spot.
Sorry for the lack of preview content this week guys. I'm not sure about you guys, but last
week's defeat really got to me. Oh that and the many, many projects and midterms due this past week
while I'm finishing up my degree. One or the other.
In any case, tonight's match is yet another chance for the Portland Timbers to turn their season
around.
David Luiz: Well, I for one am glad he's suspended. JT might be a pioneer in
on-pitch accessorising but the boy has no clue when it comes to stylish haircuts.
The Champions League Final is the biggest event in the club football calender as such, it's
imperative that Chelsea is represented on the world stage by the best in blow dried bouffs.
Image:Â Scott Barbour/Getty Images. No, we haven't a clue either, but when we saw this photo of
Hazza taken at the Moomba Festival Parade last month, we knew it would be a travesty if we failed
to publish it.
Non-league side Bashley have written to the Football Association to ask for their tie with Gosport to be replayed after the referee missed a clear goal. Gosport's keeper booted the ball through the side-netting in frustration before ref Will Bull had seen it cross the line. He didn't award a goal, believing that the ball [.
There was no other way to title this post. There had been around a million home fans (or so it
sounded) in full voice at the St. Mary's for 92 minutes, and yet this is the line that prevailed at
the end. There have been reservations expressed about this man's move to such a direct rival,
including on this very website, but now it doesn't seem too odd anymore (and
that's not hypocrisy.
It's not that uncommon to see a famous face on the streets of Amsterdam; in the past, I've run
across the likes of Nelly Furtado, Gary Lineker, Angelina Jolie and Ashley Tisdale (though I had no
earthly clue who she was at the time). Still, it was quite a surprise just now to happen upon none
other than USMNT youth technical director Claudio Reyna out for a stroll down Leidsestraat during
my
Could Carroll get a start?...
Image: guardian.co.ukHearts are the opposition for Liverpool on Thursday night as they continue
their attempts to proceed through the Europa League rounds. The Reds will look for a result to take
back to Anfield and with Manchester City looming at the weekend they will surely want to go about
this in the easiest way possible.
Hands up all those who breathed a huge sigh of relief at the end of the first 45 minutes of
yesterday's game? Moi. I say that because I think like most I didn't have a clue what to expect.
Usually, we get minor changes enabling us to have a pretty good idea of what to expect but with
last season's and this window's signings everything seems to be up in the air making it very
difficult to calculate what to expect.
Ex-professional football players occupy a unique position in British society. For anyone else of
any other profession or social standing, years having engaged in an activity on a professional
basis day-in day-out would afford you with a modicum of respect and a reputation for expertise. You
have been there, on the inside.
My U7 Girls team had a pretty good season. Their first match was probably one of the most
exciting and fun U7 matches I've ever coached. Pullbacks, crosses, possession, passing, feint
moves, passing back to the defender, dribbling AWAY from the swarm, staying spread out. You name it
they were doing it.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has been teasing the football rumour mill by setting a bit of a
riddle about who he's targeting as his next signing. The Magpies boss said: "I am contemplating
bringing in someone because we don't have a dominant header of the ball. On the scouting front we
are looking at a [.
Where Manchester United found the time in their hectic EPL campaign to allow four key players to
kick footballs into a van, we have no clue. But they did, and the faces of the Kenyan kids who
eventually received those balls gave us almost as much pleasure as Nani's did when he realised he
was getting out-tricked by a guy he believed to be a van driver.
